Charlotte's Web — Chapter 9

About This Passage

This passage catches the exact moment the whole book turns: Charlotte admits she has no plan yet, and Wilbur, trembling, treats her admission as good news because it comes from her. Trailblazers can study how E. B. White pairs Wilbur's trembling with Charlotte's cool, collected voice to show what steady friendship feels like from the inside.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 9 in order. Begin with Wilbur noticing Charlotte's hairy legs, describe his two failed attempts at web-spinning, move through the Queensborough Bridge speech and the lamb's insult, and end with Wilbur's quiet good-nights from the darkest corner of his pen.

Discussion Questions

1. When Wilbur boasts that he could spin a web if he tried, Charlotte does not argue — she says, Let's see you do it. What in the story shows you that Charlotte is choosing to teach Wilbur through experience rather than correction, and why might that be the wiser way to handle a friend's boast?
2. Charlotte gives a long speech about the Queensborough Bridge and the people who rush back and forth across it, saying she is glad she is a sedentary spider. How do you know from her words that she is not only describing her own life but also teaching Wilbur a way to live?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide